deign
/deɪn/
deign verb: to consider it appropriate or worthy to do or give (something), often when it is seen as beneath one's dignity; to condescend, to vouchsafe.
Verb
deign (third-person singular simple present deigns, present participle deigning, simple past and past participle deigned)
- To consider it appropriate or worthy to do or give (something), often when it is seen as beneath one's dignity; to condescend, to vouchsafe.
- Nor vvould vve deigne him buriall of his men, / Till he diſburſed, at Saint Colmes ynch, / Ten thouſand Dollars, to our generall vſe.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- [T]hough this my vvorke, ovvne not vvorth enough to deſerve your patronage, yet ſuch is your benigne humanity, that I am confident you vvill daigne it your protection, under vvhich it vvillingly ſhrovvdes it ſelfe.1634, William Wood, “To the Right Worshipfull, My Much Honored Friend, Sir William Armyne, Knight and Baronet”, in New Englands Prospect. A True, Lively, and Experimentall Description of that Part of...
- To consider it appropriate or worthy to accept or take (something).
- Shee deignes not my good will, but doth reprove / And of my rurall muſick holdeth ſcorne.1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “Ianuarye. Ægloga Prima.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC, folio 2, recto
- Go, go, be gone, to ſaue your Ship from vvrack, / VVhich cannot periſh hauing thee aboarde, / Being deſtin’d to a drier death on ſhore: / I muſt goe ſend ſome better Meſſenger, / I fear my Iulia vvould not daigne my lines, / Receiuing them from ſuch a vvorthleſſe poſt.c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- Antonyms:
- disdain
- Often followed by of: to consider (someone) as worthy of something; to dignify.
- VVill you not daigne his Majeſty vvith an Anſvver?1591 (date written), [Daniel Defoe], “Part II. Of the Church in Her Growing State.. Addenda. Here Follows Some Original Papers and Accounts of Things, which are Referred to in the Foregoing Part. No....
- To consider it appropriate or worthy to do something, often when it is seen as beneath one's dignity; to condescend, to think fit, to vouchsafe.
- He didn’t even deign to give us a nod of the head; he thought us that far beneath him.
- For Edvvard vvill defeind the Tovvne, and thee, / And all thoſe friends, that deine to follovv mee.c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
deign meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Telugu and Malayalam
deign in Tamil
- அருளியுரை
deign in Urdu
- فرمانا
deign in Telugu
- to deign, condescend, be pleased
- దయచేయు dayacēyu
deign in Malayalam
- lower oneself, condescend, stoop
- കനിഞ്ഞരുളുക, കനിയുക, ദയതോന്നി കൊടുക്കുക, കൃപകാട്ടുക, ദയ ചെയ്യുക, കൃപ ചെയ്യുക
More languagesFewer languages
- deign in Kannada
- ಅನುಗ್ರಹಿಸು, ಕೃಪೆತೋರು, ಕನಿಕರಿಸು
Examples of deign in a sentence
- And sure a willing ear she well might deign / To one whose tales may equally engage / The wondering mind of youth, the thoughtful heart of age.1825, Robert Southey, “Canto III”, in A Tale of Paraguay, London: […] [A[ndrew] & R[obert] Spottiswoode] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme...
- He, who usually hardly deigned a glance at his infants, now lay gazing with inexpressible softness and sadness at the little sleeping face; […]1854, [Charlotte Mary Yonge], chapter IX, in Heartsease or The Brother’s Wife […], volume II, London: John W[illiam] Parker and Son […]...
- Thou haſt eſtrang'd thy ſelf, and deigneſt not our land: / Farre off to others novv, thy fauour honour breeds, / And high diſdaine doth cauſe thee ſhun our clime (I feare) […]1595, Ed. Spencer [i.e., Edmund Spenser], Colin Clouts Come Home Againe, London: […] T[homas] C[reede] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC...
- This Nehemia mentioneth, but deigneth not to name him, affirming that he chaſed him from him, of vvhich ſome deſcant vvhether it vvere by exile, or excommunication, or ſome other puniſhment.1613, Samuel Purchas, “[Asia.] Of the Samaritans.”, in Purchas His Pilgrimage. Or Relations of the World and the Religions Observed in All...
Antonyms of deign
Forms of deign
| third-person singular present | deigns |
|---|---|
| present participle | deigning |
| past participle | deigned |
| past | deigned |
| second-person singular present (archaic) | deignest |
| second-person singular past (archaic) | deignedst |
| third-person singular present (archaic) | deigneth |
Origin of deign
From Middle English deinen, deynen (“to consider (something) suitable to one’s dignity or worth, condescend; to appear worthy; to condescend to grant (something), permit, vouchsafe; to regard (someone) as worthy; to consecrate, dedicate (something)”), from Old French daigner, degnier, deigner, deignier (“to condescend, deign”) (modern French daigner), from Latin dignāre, the present active infinitive of dignō (“to deem fitting, suitable, or worthy; to condescend, deign”), from dignus (“fitting, suitable, worthy; worthy of”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deḱ- (“to perceive; to take”)) + -ō (suffix forming first-conjugation verbs). cognates * Italian degnare * Occitan deinar, denhar
Words formed from deign
- dedeign
Words that rhyme with deign
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- drain
- pane
- gain
- main
- sustain
- vein
- entertain
- skein
- Wayne
- abstain
- bane
- campaign
- champagne
- crane
- entrain
- fain
- insane
- maine
- pain
- plane
- stain
- wane
- Aquitaine
- ascertain
- chicane
- contain
- detain
- explain
- maintain
- mundane
- obtain
- refrain
- remain
- vane
- amain
- arcane
- Blaine
- complain
- detrain
- distrain
- kane
- ordain
- pertain
- profane
- public domain
- reign
- swain
- terrain
Questions about deign
- What does deign mean?
- Deign means to consider it appropriate or worthy to do or give (something), often when it is seen as beneath one's dignity; to condescend, to vouchsafe.
- What is deign in Tamil?
- Deign in Tamil is அருளியுரை. See Deign meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use deign in a sentence?
- And sure a willing ear she well might deign / To one whose tales may equally engage / The wondering mind of youth, the thoughtful heart of age.
- What part of speech is deign?
- Deign is a verb.
- How do you pronounce deign?
- Deign is pronounced /deɪn/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of deign?
- The past tense of deign is deigned.
Words near deign in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: deign (page history and authors); deign (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); deign (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); దయచేయు (Telugu) (page history and authors); deign (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); deign (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-deign.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-deign.wav.
Cite this entry: “deign.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/deign. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.